The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Helenium plant, botanically known as Helenium hybrida and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Siesta’.
The new Helenium plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Zuidwolde, The Netherlands. The objective of the program is to create and develop new compact Helenium plants with attractive ray and disc colors.
The new Helenium plant originated from an open-pollination in 2008 of Helenium hybrida ‘Ruby Tuesday’, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 18,234, as the female, or seed, parent with an unknown selection of Helenium hybrida as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Helenium plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated open-pollination in a controlled environment in Zuidwolde, The Netherlands in 2011.
Asexual reproduction of the new Helenium plant by terminal cuttings in a controlled greenhouse environment in Heerhugowaard, The Netherlands since 2011 has shown that the unique features of this new Helenium plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.